Unseen
by Hawk of the North
Summary: She always watched over him from the shadows, no one ever knowing she was there.  Challenge fic oneshot.  Mystery pairing.  Bwahahah.


Yeesh, instead of writing all these oneshots, I need to get back to my main story.

Ahem! Hello, merry readers. Welcome to tonight's feature on the Wonderful Writings of Hawk. Today I present to you the first of my Zelda fan fictions. This was actually the result of an idea by a writer friend of mine - each person involved was given a theme, a game, and was let loose. I was given OoT as my game. The end result surprised everyone, including me. And now, I bring it here to share with you. Enjoy.

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There are few places in the world quite as magical as Kokiri Forest. The home of fairies, the land of the eternal children, blessed with unwavering peace. Very few, even the inhabitants, know just how deep the magic goes. The ancient tree who fathered the forest was likely the only one who knew everything. She, however, knew almost as much.

She had lived in the supposedly empty house since the moment she was born. Her family had all gone, vanishing into the Lost Woods. She alone had remained, reluctant to leave the place of her birth. No one ever disturbed her, thinking the house empty. No one ever gave her a second glance as she explored the forest. Being blessed with the eternal youth all the forest inhabitants shared, she was able to explore for ages. It paid off, as well. Investigating the magic of the forest taught her about the magic within herself, as well. This was almost all she did. With no one ever paying her any heed, this was the only way she knew to fight off the loneliness.

That changed one fateful night, when she was suddenly awakened by her home filling with light. Eyes adjusting to the sudden change, she watched as a Kokiri she recognized as the one they called Saria, followed closely by her fairy partner and light source, carried a small bundle into the house. As usual, she was unnoticed. The Kokiri girl laid the small bundle on the old bed, and she heard Saria say to the bundle, "I don't know why the Deku Tree insisted you come here... I would have been happy to let you stay with me."

She was confused as to why Saria would talk to the bundle, when it shifted, revealing a young baby, sleeping soundly. This was strange; the Kokiri didn't have children – in their innocence, she doubted they even knew about procreation – so the child must have been an outsider. Why, then, was he being allowed to live in the forest, and at the Deku Tree's command, no less?

She was broken out of her thoughts when Saria suddenly stood. Reluctantly, she made her way to the door. Before exiting, she softly said, "Goodnight, Link." Given Saria's well-known kindness, she had expected Saria to spend her night with the outsider baby. The only explanation she could think of was that this was once again the Deku Tree's command. That didn't make sense, though – the Deku Tree was very kind himself, so why would he leave a defenseless baby all alone?

With Saria gone, she made her way over to the bed where the baby slept. Could it have been that he had been left there because she was there? She hardly dared to hope that even the Deku Tree would pay any attention to her, but then why? Slowly, she reached out and softly touched his face. No matter why he had been left there, she would protect this child. Even if it was the Deku Tree's wish that he be left there to die – doubtful, but the thought still invaded – she would protect him with every fiber of her being. Though no one ever noticed her, she swore then and there that this child, this Link, would forever be under her watch.

As the outsider child grew, she maintained that promise. All her time spent learning about the magic in and around her paid off for this. While Saria spent most of her days' time watching over him, at night that duty fell to her. When Link woke up at night, crying, she softly soothed him, controlling the magic so thick in the air to keep him warm, safe and happy. As he grew, she continued to watch over him. When he had a nightmare, she was there to calm him down, and help him back to sleep. When he hurt himself, she helped heal the scrape. Despite all this, he only noticed her slightly more than the Kokiri. This didn't matter to her, though; even if he never noticed, she wasn't lonely any more. No matter what happened, she always did whatever she could to take care of him.

One hurt she could not heal, however, was the hurt she wanted to heal the most. Though he had Saria as a close friend, Link was as lonely as she had ever been. In a village where everyone had a fairy partner, he spent all his days without one. What he would have given for a fairy... and what she would have given to become a fairy solely for him. All these years she had spent watching over him, secretly guarding him, he had become everything to her. She needed nothing but his happiness... but always wanted to share in that happiness directly, by his side.

It was during a sleepless night, filled with these thoughts as she often was, that something unusual happened. The sound of hooves clicking on hard earth were suddenly invaded the quiet of the night. Dashing out to see what was going on, she was greeted by the sight of a large man, with a distinct aura of maliciousness about him, slowly riding by on a horse darker than anything she had seen. He moved forward with a sense of purpose, straight towards where the Deku Tree stood. Surely, he couldn't have been lost.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she quickly climbed down to follow him. His horse, which was trotting, moved faster than she dared to for fear of detection – even if no one else ever had. As such, by the time she reached the Deku Tree's grove, the man was already there, in a heated argument with the Deku Tree.

"Give it to me, you lousy piece of firewood, or the forest will pay your debt!" the man was roaring.

Unfazed, the Deku Tree replied, "The forest is beyond your touch, Dragmire. As long as I stand, you have no power here."

"Then you'll fall first," the man said threateningly.

"Thou know better than that," the tree said with a deep, resounding chuckle. "Thine fire shalt not burn me, thine blade shalt not cut me, and thine magic shalt not touch me. I and the forest are as one, and neither shall bend to you."

The man, this Dragmire, as the Deku Tree had called him, balled his fists in anger, and stared furiously away from the tree. His eyes wandered down to the ground... and then fell on her. She froze as she felt his gaze, cold as ice, and watched fearfully as his face split into a malicious grin.

"I know the chink in your armor, oh Great Deku tree," Dragmire laughed. "You cannot defend against your own forest, and not everything in the forest can defend against me." Suddenly, she was lifted into the air by an unseen force. She kicked and squirmed wildly, but to no avail. "This will be the host of my curse. It will infest you, and corrupt you... unless, of course, you give me the stone."

"Thou know so little of the powers of the forest, if thou think she shalt ever enter me, knowing the harm it would cause," the tree said calmly. She gaped slightly at the tree. It knew her, after all, didn't it?

Dragmire was not put off in the slightest. "You know so little of my powers, if you are so confident," he sneered.

Then, pain shot through her body, like she had never experienced before. She let loose a high-pitched shriek, struggling wildly to free herself from this man's unseen grasp. Suddenly, she was flying through the air, and crashed into the Deku Tree. The pain continued, though, as her legs began moving seemingly by themselves. She found herself diving into a knot in the tree, running deeper and deeper into it. As she did, she could feel her body changing. Every part of her felt as though it was being ripped into a million pieces, as she grew larger and larger.

She hid herself deep in the tree. Though she had finally stopped growing, the pain continued as terribly as ever. The unending torture was worsened as she watched the curse spread out from within her, reshaping and killing, the Deku Tree from the inside out.

She stayed there, in her pain and misery, for what felt like a lifetime, though for all she knew it had only been a day. Creatures that had sprung up inside the tree – doubtlessly because of the curse – quickly found her, and labeled her their queen. She despised the creatures, and the title. Queen indeed; she wanted to do nothing more than destroy the creatures herself, but something wouldn't let her. Dragmire's magic, she assumed.

Then, something she had never imagined happening, never in her worst nightmares, came to pass. A young, blond-haired boy came into her hiding chamber. She instantly recognized him, even from the distance between them – Link. With him, came a small blue fairy. She was so happy for him, but wanted nothing more than for him to leave, and never see her like this. He had so rarely noticed her before, and she tried so hard for that to happen now. However, with the pain still coursing through her, she could not hold still, creating a horrible sound.

Link looked to the ceiling, where she hid, and his eyes met her one eye. As this happened, a dark feeling welled up from within her, and she fell from the ceiling. She felt as if she was watching from inside herself, as she struck ruthlessly at the boy she had raised in secret. Though he had a small sword with him, which he used to fend off her attacks, he was still clearly inexperienced with it. She struggled to stop herself from harming Link. As she battled against the curse, her movements were hindered, giving Link his chance. He jabbed his sword in her eye, once, twice, and a third time. She shrieked, lurching back, before falling to the ground. The darkness that Dragmire had put in her raged out of control, and began burning away at her monstrous flesh.

At the center of the burning flesh, blue flames all around, lay a tiny spider. The spider watched as Link entered a circle of light, and began to disappear. Before he was completely gone, and as the flames crept ever closer to it, the spider said in a voice much too quiet for him to hear, "I love you." With that, Ghoma closed all her eyes, and waited for the end.

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I think it's official; that is the crackiest pairing evar. Which is the main reason I decided to share it with you all. The theme? Monster. I do hope you enjoyed the end result, and please review regardless, 'kay? 'Kay.


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